What I wish I knew with going “natural” 9 years ago…

I remember the first documentary I watched which set me on a mission to try and heal myself naturally. It was Food Matters: a documentary which detailed how food could heal the body and how nature is our true healer. The documentary was the first I had ever seen where I could finally see a way forward in trying to address my endometriosis.

To be honest, I hadn’t really believed it was possible before then. The repeated messages of “there is no cure” had dug deep into my psyche and that compounded with leading experts telling me that my body was doomed to “forever have endometriosis” left me in a place of feeling trapped by my own body and limited on my real choices.

So began the journey at even deciding if any of this would work for me. I didn’t have any examples. I didn’t have any role models. There was very little information about endometriosis online and there were certainly no women shouting the benefits of natural from the rooftops! Luckily, more and more are speaking up now, so we are more aware of our choices.

Here’s the stuff I wish I had known at the beginning to make my 9-year journey a little shorter…

1.The diet is only one part of the puzzle.

Of course, our diet and what we eat is super important. It influences everything from your mood to your hormones to your gut health but what is interesting is that it isn’t all there is to “going natural”. For a long time, I focused solely on diet and I believed that if I just ate cleaner, healthier and purer foods, then that would resolve my endo. I did do pretty well in the end but the honest truth is that it didn’t resolve the endo. It was still there, lingering in the background and when stressful life situations happened, it would simply flare up again.

2. There is plenty out there to try

It is easy to feel despondent at times. I know I certainly did. There were times when I questioned whether any of it was working and if I should just resort to going back for more surgery and living on pain-killers. I was tired and fed up at times with the trial and error.

Here’s the thing… we can view this journey as a challenge or even an adventure in discovering how our body works and what it likes/dislikes or we can view it as a struggle and a “never achieving” idea. Think about the mindset we impose on the body with different ideas here and you’d be amazed at how different your experience will be.

There are many, many different methods and techniques to try with endo. The key thing is to keep trying and keep doing and eventually, you will find stuff that really resonates and works for your body.

3. Pain-killers and Hormone Treatments don’t actually fix anything

For a short time, I wanted to believe that we could use the birth control pill in combination with natural methods. That would be wonderful 🙂 Combining different methods to get a fabulous result. For some reason (probably good marketing), I believe that the pill wasn’t that bad for us. I felt like it was just a “mini pill” and could be used to “fix” hormonal imbalances for a short time.

As my research dug deeper I realized that many of the issues we experience with having endo, can be traced directly back to this little “mini” pill and that all sorts of irregularities can occur. Things like blood clots, strokes, gut PH changes, Vaginal PH changes – leading to infections and nutrient deficiencies.

The worst part is that it interfered with the liver and it’s ability to do its job, which is crucial when looking at how to manage endometriosis naturally – read more here.

4. Mindset is at the crux of all of it

I have clients who come to me with phrases like “I have tried everything and nothing works!” or “my body will never be well” or “my body is sick and broken, please help me!”.

It can take many hours of me trying to convince these women that they can find relief because they have convinced themselves of false truths. In their mind, they believe these statements completely and sadly, they also repeat these statements to themselves on a daily or weekly basis.

The mind is powerful and when we believe something to work then it is amazing how it will. Watch this interesting video on the effects of the power of the mind:

5. Don’t give up

Yes, this is just common advice but I see far too many women give up on living healthy or expecting a shift in their body too quickly. Healing takes time and there are many angels to explore. Stick with it sweetheart. I know it works. I am living proof that it does and if you fall of the Wellness Wagon, you can just get right back up again 🙂